"All 'pre-paradigmatic' Science is like that, let's be clear. 'Pre-paradigmatic' Science is what you do when you don't know what to do next. Like the distinction between 'calculation', when you know the next steps, and 'mathematical-thinking', when you need to figure out the next steps. You are here to learn to invent the straightforward solutions that other people will someday learn, and that is not, itself, a straightforward task."
"But while you are learning to do that, if you ever want, for example, any recovery breaks after I've asked you to do something that was in fact very stressful, you need to actually show any emotion. Or, failing that, say something out loud about it."
"When I first met the current researchers, I was trying out dath ilani teaching methods that aim to produce confusion, so that people can learn what to do when they are confused. Instead of looking confused, my students continued to look fixedly cheerful and enthusiastic, as is a Chelish person's 'dignity'."
"So I tried harder to confuse them."
"Bit of a 'communication-with-aliens' problem, there."
"Ione, am I wrong about this? I was expecting you tell me they were feeling stressed about -"